This is the beginning of a new Era. This is the beginning of peace and prosperity for the entire nation and those surrounding it. We bring strength to each other, as we have seen with the Avatar-all four elements are strong when united as one.

United but maintaining their individuality. Individuals who care for each other. Brothers and sisters.

This is what I meant to say when Toph asked if I could rehearse my speech to her as the Fire Lord.

Instead what came out of my mouth was "You're eyelashes are too thick".

"Uh… okay" she said, rolling her opaque eyes. "If you want to do it with Aang… I get it"

"No….!"I shout, raising my hands as if to stop her from leaving. She remains seated calmly by the side of the pond and is indifferent to my little outburst. "I have rehearsed with Uncle and Aang as well as Katara…"

"Okay then" she says. "You can't blame me for trying to get a sneak preview… now can you?"

It's the first time I have been alone with her, it's the first time I have truly been free and it only lasts five minutes. Her mother emerges from behind a giant purple Gargandia bush and calls her 'Toph Doll' inside to not bother his 'Highness'. Toph frowns at the nickname and rises, heaving and breathing loudly before following her parents inside.

I wouldn't know that those five minutes would be the last I would spend with Toph before I changed into this Fire Lord….

Xx~xx~xX

It's meeting after meeting all day. Trying to disarm unwilling fire-nation soldiers without causing a rebellion in my own army and maintaining peace in the many nation's villages and cities. There are many other agenda's and concerns but Katara has insisted that I pay attention to this one first; in one of her slightly scolding letters from the Northern Water Tribe-were she is training. She behaves like my mother….

He still hasn't told me where she is. Laughing manically and jeering at my weakness when he is the one chained up in a dark cell.

"Fire Lord…" Lord Garza murmurs beside me. "The contract… for the ships…?"

"Huh?" I look down on the parchment with the square formal writing. "Right, ships to the Southern Water Tribe?"

"Yes, my lord… as we discussed five minutes ago…"

"I am Fire Lord, Garza…"I hiss, scrawling my signature and stamping the royal symbol on the bottom of the paper. "Don't let my youth fool you into being a petulant old man; otherwise it will be your new title…"

"Oh" he says softly, swallowing and readjusting his collar. "I meant no…"
"Here, the ships should leave as soon as possible" I hand him the signed paper. "I have a letter for you to hand to Warrior Sokka… personally"

"Yes, Fire Lord" he stammers. "My lord"

"Have you had something to eat?" Mai asks, sprawled on the claret chaise and picking at peach-berries absently.

"No" I sigh, shrugging off the heavy royal gown and handing it to the hand maiden. "Meeting after accursed meeting"
"hmmm" she murmurs, sucking on the fruit.

"To top it off, Katara is pressurising me to deal with the soldiers in the villages swiftly" I groan. "She thinks I sit around eating fruit all day…"
"Hmmm" she sighs. "That peasant girl…"
"Her name is Katara and you had better remember that when she comes here"

"Comes here?" Mai giggles. "Why would she be coming here and why would I, the Fire Lords wife worry about her name…"

"Wife?"
"Oh, I have been meaning to tell you" she sighs, leaning up and brushing her bangs away from her eyes. "You need to ask me for my hand in marriage now"

"Now?" I say, my eyes large and hearing impaired suddenly. "Wife?"

"Yes, Zuko. Wife and now"

"But I have the war to…" I begin.

"War is over, Zuko" she whispers. "Okay, maybe I am being a bit too much. You can ask me within the year, then"

I groan and fling myself theatrically onto the opposite chaise from hers. A handmaiden appears suddenly with a giant Hibiscus-Palm leaf fan, cooling the air around me.

"Mai…" I groan, covering my eyes with my hands. "Could you be a little more cooperative?"
"Ty Lee keeps nagging me about it" she murmurs. "And the Avatar and the Water Peasant…"
"Aang is not getting married!"

"That's not what I said" she snaps. "What I was going to say before you interjected was the water girl can't marry before us. It would be… undignified"

"Why do you find Katara threatening?"

"Threatening to my standing as nobility amongst our peers, yes" she hisses, her eyes narrowed and mouth a hard line. "You take what she says more seriously than anything I contribute!"

"Is this about restructuring the Fire Nation monarchy system…?" I begin.

"She suggested you implement a few new rules and 'codes of conduct' for potential heirs to the thrown and that they should be educated about the other nations" Mai says, waving her long pale hand in the air dismissively. "And you shot down my contribution"
"Firstly, Mai…"I sigh. "It was a dinner topic. And secondly, your contribution was changing the maple wood throne to a darker wood, preferably cherry-blood wood shade, with gold inlay and crimson satin stuffing!"

"You say orange-tomato and I say orange-potatoes" she huffed, stuffing another peach berry in her mouth petulantly and looking away from me.

"Don't you mean you say orange-tomatoes?" I ask her, bemused.

"The conversation has ended" she says icily.

Women…. Worse than treacherous Noble Lord's trying to make extra money of off you…

Xx~xx~xX

"Your mother…" Ozai murmurs, closing his eyes in a peaceful manner. "Ursa"

He says her name with reverence and disappointment mixed in one. He frowns in the end, when whatever memory he is recalling finishes and glares at me.

"You look like her, boy" he growls angrily. "Or should I say 'looked' like her… that little scratch on your face has changed everything, huh. She said you were handsome, I said you were too pretty…"

"Where is she?" I ask him softly, pulling my knees to my chest. I watch him from his prison-walking and slamming his fists against the wall-and sigh. I have had him unchanged and moved to a cell with a small high window for air. He does not notice these little things I do because I love him. I love my father, the tyrant and unforgiving monster.

"A Fire Lord does not sit on the floor like a child" he sneers, pointing at my still form on the ground, disgustedly. "A Fire Lord…"

He begins his rant of how a Fire Lord should conduct himself and how many concubines a Fire Lord should have. Am I still a virgin, he asks. He says he can smell it of off me. He says he can see it in my soul that I am not a man. I am not even a woman. I am nothing.

"No wife yet?" he scoffs. "Uh, if you wanted me gone so badly, you could have just let Azula…"
"Azula has gone insane" I tell him, still staring at the hard ground beneath me.

"Better an insane leader than a pathetic nothing" he sneers, walking over to me and grabbing the iron bars that restrict his freedom. His face pressed against the long poles leading to the ceiling and in the dim light I can see his once meticulously kept beard is an unkept wild bush and his eyes are dark.

"Are you waiting for the Avatar to ask for your hand in marriage?" he asks sweetly. "Or are you waiting for the woman to open her legs and guide your limp excuse of manhood into her? I weep for the spawn you will spurt out. I weep with my ancestors for your failures..."

Xx~xx~xX

Zuko…

We are having a slight problem with your troups in the earth kingdom. They are a little confused it seems. I know you are very busy but it would send a good message to all the necessary people if you managed to come down here.

Your friend in living and death

Aang

p.s seeing as I sign the letters with 'Aang' could you address me as such-none of this Avatar Aang you insist on. I know it has a nice ring to it but it's so formal and I hear it all the time… I took your request to drop the Fire Lord, so do the same ZUKO!

"Who's the letter from?" Mai asks, pulling my rob off. "Why is your robe dirty? Were you rolling in the sand?"

"The letter is from Avatar Aang" I grumble, placing it carefully on the games table. "I am dirty because I was in the cells"

"Why do you torture yourself with Fire Lord Ozai?" she asks, reaching for the letter. I take the letter back and tuck it in the pocket of my shirt.

"He is not the Fire Lord anymore and I have to find my mother" I murmur.

"What did the Avatar want?" she asks. Mai asks a lot of questions in one breath and then goes for long periods of silence. It is confusing.

"He wants me to go on a trip to the Earth Kingdom"

I try not to over think the words- "…it would send a good message to all the necessary people…"

"It doesn't sound so bad" she sighs. "Doesn't that little blind earth kingdom girl live in Ba Sing Sei?"

"Which one?" I ask, staring at out the window to the sea.

"Are there a lot of blind earth benders….?" Mai whispers mostly to herself. "Your uncle is fond of this particular blind earth bender…"

"Toph…" I say slowly, trying to avoid the on coming stammer. "She… is… her family lives in Gaoling"

"So…?" Mai huffs. "You can go with Uncle to visit her, make it a royal visit. Won't that send a good message? She is a noble is she not?"
"Yes… the Bei Fongs"

"Just go" she sighs. "I want all this nonsensical noise to die down already. It is delaying our wedding"

Xx~xx~xX

"You made it!"

"uh…" I stammer, failing to dodge Avatar Aang's hug and looking over to Uncle for support and assistance. "Avatar…"

"I will kick your butt, Fire Lord Zuko… if you don't cut that Avatar out"

"You can't kick my butt…" I say smiling. "Without going into the Avatar state, Avatar Aang"

He grins widely and slaps my back hard. He isn't so short anymore but he has little muscle mass I note. All this vegetarian stuff he insists on is to contribute I bet…

"A little sparring session before we dive head into things, then?"

"Yes" I agree, putting my arm around his shoulders. "A reminder to respect your elders, eh Aang?"

"Technically, I am a hundred plus years old"

"Who would've thought the Avatar and Fire Lord would walk arm in arm?" I hear Uncle murmur to one of my bodyguards behind us.

Xx~xx~xX

"We can go to visit the Bei Fongs later on" Aang huffs, wiping his brow and face. He raises his hand for us to pause our duelling for a moment.

"I never said anything…"

"Yes, yes…but it would be good for us to pay them a visit" he breathes. "maintain our earth kingdom connections, you know-outside of Toph"

"Yes, you are right" I say, restructuring my stance. "One last round… I'll let you choose a different element that is not air"
"what's with you and my air bending!" he complains.

"It freaks me out" I murmur, charging my chi and pulling on the heat inside me. "All that floating and drifting like a leaf…"
"Air bending it is" he grins wickedly and we resume our play fight in smoke and gusts of wind.

Xx~xx~xX

Their house is impressive. Large and cultural but with an elegant sophistication that could only belong to a noble family. Their garden is well manicured and I can see that everything is green in the dim light of the lamps. The flowers are plentiful and blooming freely and there are various little ponds everywhere. It is hard for me to imagine Toph the Tough growing up in this fairytale like setting. It is hard for me to imagine Toph around such feminine grace contained in nature…

"Avatar Aang and Fire Lord" Toph's father greets us at the door. Our escort of guards stops short of the foyer as I enter with Aang and Uncle.

"What am I" Uncle whispers to me. "Chopped liver?"

Aang laughs out loud, startling the Nobleman Bei Fong and causing the doorman to look at us anxiously. Aang has not let his added responsibilities and busy life intercede with his self. It is refreshing to be around him and Uncle after so long. After constantly looking at devious stares from the Fire Nation Nobility at my table and Mai's own sudden change…

We sit at the dinner, Aang chatting away about his many visits to the different nations since the peace and new Fire Lord-he includes me in his story to stop my obvious scanning of the many faces on the dinner table for a pair of clouded lime eyes. she is not here and I note there is no empty seat to suggest she may only be late.

"Can I ask…" Aang whispers to Toph's mother, leaning close to her ear but his grey eyes are trained on my face. "Where is Master Toph?"

"Master Toph…"Lady Bei Fong whispers back in a girly tone reminiscent of Toph's rougher one. I notice she looks like Toph-or is it Toph looks like her-but the features are strangely made up in make up and lipstick. A much older attractive version of Toph.

"Toph finally agreed" she whispers conspiratorially. "To finish with 'Finishing School'. It took a lot of convincing and tantrums but I had to remind her…. before the title of 'Master Earth Bender' she is a Lady of the Bei Fong house!"

"She doesn't want people to know really" Lady Bei Fong says softly, sipping her grape-dew wine delicately. "So it might not be so wise to mention it to her. She finishes end of this year… if she passes"

"Hmm, don't worry Zuko" Uncle Iroh whispers to me. "we can always track down that other earth kingdom girl you were interested in"

"I have a girlfriend" I hiss to him.

"So do a lot of men…" he chuckles. "But few have wives. Besides, we have to do something about your little status"

"what are you talking about, Old Man" I hiss at him, looking around the table for any potential listeners.

"I know you have not tasted the breast of a woman as yet" he says, sipping his wine nonchalantly. "Trust me Zuko, when I tell you… Better than Honey-Strawberries in sweetened cream"